in every action. To matters of domestic concernment which
it has intrusted to the Federal Government and to such as relate to our
intercourse with foreign nations I shall zealously devote myself; beyond
those limits I shall never pass.

To enter on this occasion into a further or more minute exposition of my
views on the various questions of domestic policy would be as obtrusive
as it is probably unexpected. Before the suffrages of my countrymen were
conferred upon me I submitted to them, with great precision, my opinions
on all the most prominent of these subjects. Those opinions I shall
endeavor to carry out with my utmost ability.

Our course of foreign policy has been so uniform and intelligible as
to constitute a rule of Executive conduct which leaves little to my
discretion, unless, indeed, I were willing to run counter to the lights
of experience and the known opinions of my constituents. We sedulously
cultivate the friendship of all nations as the condition most compatible
with our welfare and the principles of our Government. We decline
alliances as adverse to our peace. We desire commercial relations on
equal terms, being ever willing to give a fair equivalent for advantages
received We endeavor to conduct our intercourse with openness and
sincerity, promptly avowing our objects and seeking to establish that
mutual frankness which is as beneficial in the dealings of nations as
of men. We have no disposition and we disclaim all right to meddle in
disputes, whether internal or foreign, that may molest other countries,
regarding them in their actual state as social communities, and
preserving a strict neutrality in all their controversies. Well knowing
the tried valor of our people and our exhaustless resources, we neither
anticipate nor fear any designed aggression; and in the consciousness of
our own just conduct we feel a security that we shall never be called
upon to exert our determination never to permit an invasion of our
rights without punishment or redress.

In approaching, then, in the presence of my assembled countrymen, to
make the solemn promise that yet remains, and to pledge myself that
I will faithfully execute the office I am about to fill, I bring with
me a settled purpose to maintain the institutions of my country, which
I trust will atone for the errors I commit.

In receiving from the people the sacred trust twice confided to my
illustrious predecessor, and which he has discharged so faith